A Woman’s Place In The Spotlight: Highlights

Doris Topsy-Elvord – First African American Woman Elected to LB City Council 1992, Vice Mayor and LB Harbor Commissioner, Retired Probation Officer, aka Mother Doris

Sharon Cotrell – (1942-2020) First Woman Dockworker on the West Coast, Civil Rights Activist, Co-founder Local Teamsters for a Democratic Union, Organizer in LBACI and LBAPN

Mary Thoits – (1923-2021) Member of the Women’s Air Service Pilots, Sky Diver, Educator, Leader LBCC Senior Studies Program

COMING SOON

Louis DuVall, the first woman Harbor Commissioner.

Wilma Powell – First African American and First Woman Director of Trade Maritime Services in the United States, Served on Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services

Gerogia Jewel Hollis Christensen – Furniture Designer and Self-taught Architect, Brank Bros. Furniture, Founder and editor of design publication “furniture forum” 

Winifred Carter – Reserve Police Officer at Age 67, Established Scholarship for Poly High School Students, Pentagon Employee, Senior Citizens Advisory Commission, Life-long Volunteer

Dr. Alice Elizabeth Barker – (1875-1947) aka Dr. Ellsworth and Dr. Bonfield, Doctor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Office on Linden Avenue

Dr. Virginia Corbett – Doctor of Psychology, Founder of WomenShelter Long Beach 1977, Activist with NOW and YWCA 

Maycie Herrington – (1918-2016) Social Worker for LA County, Integrated Park Estates, Conservator and Historian for the Tuskegee Airmen, Congressional Gold Metal Recipient

Vanessa Romain – Social Worker, Human Rights Activist, Board Member with Long Beach Lesbian and and Gay Pride.

Ruby Barham – (1881-1964) First Woman to Run for LB City Council in 1927, Educator, Early Woman Postmaster, Real Estate Investor, Philanthropist, Air Raid Warden   

Jenny Oropeza – (1957-2010) First Latina CSULB AS President, First Latina CSU Student on Board of Trustees, First Latina LB City Council Member; Assembly Member and State Senator

Sylvia Manheim – Life of Service, The National Council for Jewish Women, LB Memorial Hospital, CSULB Senior University, and more.

Harriette R. Ellis – Research, Inform and Act! Jewish writer, editor, activist, nonagenarian

Bea Antenore – Quiet force of nature, worked in anti-poverty job training and creation, League of Women Voters, PTA

Bonnie Lowenthal – LBUSD Board Member, City Council Member, State Assembly Member, LB Board of Harbor Commissioners, psychologist, worked with UCC and Centro de la Raza

Evelyn Knight – Catalyst for Change, Catalyst for Justice, civil rights leader locally and nationally, key founder of Black Studies at CSULB and LB Community Improvement League, social worker, mentor to many